BookMyShow raises over Rs550 crore from Stripes Group, other investors

The funding round has increased BookMyShow’s valuation to Rs.3,000 crore

sns124 com July 05, 2016

In India, BookMyShow is present in over 350 towns and cities and is looking to grow its user base in Tier two towns and cities.

Mumbai: Online movie ticketing company Bigtree Entertainment Pvt. Ltd, which owns and operates the BookMyShow website, raised over Rs.550 crore in its fourth round of funding.

The round was led by US-based Stripes Group with existing investors Network 18, Accel Partners, and SAIF Partners participating in the round. The funding round has increased the company’s valuation to Rs.3,000 crore, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

Mint reported on 9 June that BookMyShow was looking to raise $75 million.

Founded in 1999 by Ashish Hemrajani, Parikshit Dar and Rajesh Balpande, the Mumbai-based firm will be using the funds to curate entertainment experiences, educate consumers and invest in big data analytics and international expansion.

“We look forward to sharing our operating and investing experience with online transactional and ticketing businesses, as well as digital media, to help the company continue to scale,” said Dan Marriott, managing partner of Stripes Group.

“The funds have been raised for the next 3 to 4 years,” Hemrajani said over the phone. The company launched its services in Indonesia and is looking at a launch it in Sri Lanka this year. The company will also look at acquisitions in the big data analytics and social media space.

Last year, it had acquired a majority stake in Chennai-based fan relationship management solutions provider Fantain Sports Pvt. Ltd and Bengaluru-based media analytics start-up Eventifier.

In India, BookMyShow is present in over 350 towns and cities and is looking to grow its user base in Tier two towns and cities. “We added 1,000 single screens last year and will look at more this year. Growth in tier two towns is dependent on a lot of factors, data connectivity and purchase intent being some of them,” said Hemrajani. The company sold 100 million tickets last year and is looking to double the figure this year.

In terms of volume of sales, 85% of the share is that of movie ticketing but over 35% of the revenue is contributed by the events and sports ticketing divisions. “We are looking to double our revenues. Advertisement revenues will be growing and currently contribute around 10%,” said Hemrajani. Currently, a user spends Rs500-550 on an average in a month.

BookMyShow launched its wallet last August. The service is used by 15-20% of its users. In case of event tickets that are booked days in advance and have high ticket values, BookMyShow offers cash-on-delivery services.

To boost user engagement, the company has introduced features such as browsing movie trailers, special reservation, cash on delivery, user ratings, reviews, and generated 500 pieces of original content.